Though there was never any doubt about the success of Honda Mobilio in India in the first place, its performance, considering expectations too, has been spotless to say the least. According to a recent statistical report, Honda Mobilio has gone on to become the number two vehicle in the utility vehicle segment of Indian market, outdoing Toyota Innova and Maruti Suzuki, which are considered to be its top rivals. Data from Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) has revealed that Honda Mobilio registered a sales figure of 5539 units in the month of August, thereby painting a telling picture and a sad one for Toyota Innova and Maruti Suzuki Ertiga.
For a new model to outdo established utility vehicles like Toyota Innova and Maruti Suzuki Ertiga is no small achievement, even for a company as huge and popular as Honda. Surprisingly, the list of utility vehicles, according to sales, in India is led by Mahindra Bolero, which has a huge demand and customer base in rural areas. Honda Mobilio, standing in second place, has managed to outdo the much popular Ford EcoSport, which is perhaps the most popular model in the market at the moment. Industry experts have appreciated the strategy adopted by Honda to market the Mobilio and feel the success of Amaze compact sedan has helped its cause as well. While Toyota Innova occupied third place and Ford EcoSport maintained fourth, Maruti Suzuki Ertiga dropped to fifth position, which is a worrying sign for India’s most popular brand.
Jnaneswar Sen, Senior Vice-President for Marketing and Sales, Honda Cars India, spoke about the success of Mobilio, claiming that joint families, who want a comfortable seven seater, have been the main reason for the success of this Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV). "The response to the Honda Mobilio has been very good from the market. We are confident that it will continue to expand the MPV segment in India," he said.
Honda has managed to sell 5530 units of Mobilio within the first 39 days, which is quite remarkable given how small the dealership network of the brand is compared to others. Speaking about the same, Subrata Ray, Senior Vice President for Corporate Ratings at ICRA, a ratings firm, said, "Most often it is seen that the first month of launch of a car, the customer response is quite good."
There are a number of factors that have gone into the success of Honda Mobilio, such as brand reputation, quality, spaciousness and efficiency. One notion that has catapulted Honda Mobilio above Toyota Innova and Maruti Suzuki is its association as a personal vehicle more than anything else. Automobile expert Murad Ali Baig, speaking to Economic Times, said, "Honda has a much better reputation and Mobilio has been positioned as a personal vehicle while other competitors like Ertiga have mostly fleetowner and commercial buyers."
Source: ET
